IMSA was very easy to understand when I started in 1973. We had a ten page pocket sized rule book and great racing in front of large crowds of spectators. There was just GTO and GTU in the main event and a sedan support race. John and Peggy ran a tight ship and were very good to the teams, drivers and sponsors.
RIP Dr. Don. It was the American Le Mans Series that kept me hopeful that North American endurance racing could once again become a major series. The merger was essential for prototypes to become what they are now. Grand Am had decent GT class racing. But oh those other creatures...ow my eyes. Once again I can enjoy all the endurance racing around the world. Good looking cars running well organized events. Thanks for the updates on the IMSA rule book as well as your clear explanation of the yellow flag procedures.
He had such a huge hand in the reason why the sport is where it is today. Glad to hear the FCY explanation was clear, that was very difficult to try and explain!
IMSA is one of my favourite series, it's so good to have a major motorsport nerd making videos like this that are well-researched, well-presented, and well-produced. Thanks mate!
Excellent explanation. I watched the safety car part a few times and your explanation cleared up all that craziness I used to see on track during full course safety. It makes sense to do this in multi class racing. Thanks.
I'm calling it now, all the top class will fall out of contention and an lmp2 will win it. Rain will stop (redflag) it if it starts ponding and/or visibility drops to 0. Fog has also led to 4 hour yellow flags before.
Jose that’s music to my ears! If you ever have any questions please feel free to DM/email me (both are on the channel profile). Hope you’ll be able to tune in and watch some of the race this weekend!
In 1971, driving in the imsa series what's considered a big step from scca amateur racing. There was a considerable amount of prestige to driving in the camel GT series. R.j. Reynolds gave us respect bordered on NASCAR's Winston Cup drivers. Everybody knew each other and John bishop and Peggy Bishop do every driver by name. The rules were simple and the racing was close. The series gave drivers the chance to experience endurance racing on a regular basis. It was a great time to be in racing. You didn't need to have a million dollars behind you to be a contender in the series.
Great video. Very helpful. Hopefully they can broadcast internationally or have great RU-vid channel. Your videos are very helpful for someone new. Keep up the good work.
Awesome video, I used to go to watch the American Le Mans Series, a couple times at St. Pete GP, one time Danika Patrick was racing Indy on the road course. I am so happy Grand Am and AMLS merged and we now have the amazing IMSA 🥰
Thank you for this! I’m trying to be better informed with as many racing series as possible, so this is truly clutch. By the way, sweet Dale Jr Oreo Chevy! 🤙🏻
Glad you're enjoying it! Just hoping to remove some barriers for new fans to get into the sport! Heck and even some existing fans will learn a thing or two!
@@offintheesses been watching endurance racing since it started being shown on ESPN back in the 90s. You've clarified a lot of stuff that was really confusing to me until the end of last year.
Great video. Explains everything so clearly. I've been trying to find a GT series to follow that doesn't cost a fortune to watch (like F1TV or WEC). I really like how IMSA sets everything up, and I love their app. Definitely going to invest time in the series, since there's a chance I might be able to actually attend a race at some point.
In my opinion IMSA is the best racing to go and see in person! You have full access to the paddock (for free, it's included in your ticket) and can see these cars up close and in person! It's all reasonably priced for a ticket and it's a great atmosphere, I can't recommend it enough!
IMSA was conceived by John Bishop when he was a director of SCCA. They were still stuck in the past and demanded drivers be amateurs only. Any SCCA member would be banned for life if they accepted prize or support money. When they soundly rejected Bishop's idea for a pro GT series that would take them into the future he resigned and started IMSA. Getting it off the ground they also early on ran some short oval track races with the Formula cars and small sedans. Also forgotten is the 1980s Kelly American Series for mid-sized, NASCAR-like sedans. Several NASCAR drivers, as well as drivers who went on to NASCAR, even competed.
IMSA is ; A far better fan experience….any fan can move about the track searching for different views of the track. A better racing product, good racing is passing with care… NASCAR is covered better, but hopefully the GT classes get more attention next year.
Any thoughts on how it could be easier to understand? Do you think an even more simplified introduction to the sport would be useful? Definitely open to feedback as I will update the video during the offseason!
Thank you for the guide into these races. As a Nascar fan I find these races a bit confusing, but enjoy watching the action. Do you have a video that would help us to identify each class by vehicle type? Often times I can not keep up with which vehicle is which class. Thanks again for the help!!
Hi Neil! Yes, check out this playlist and there are seperate videos one each class as well as how you can identify the cars! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PQQkIT1Cijo.html
for others wondering the same, the GTP cars are flat out the fastest cars on the track and it's not close. lmp2 all look the same and lmp3 all look the same cuz they're based on a standard car. the GTD cars are the ones that look like your doctor's sports car. basically no difference between pro and normal, but they'll have a 'GTD' or 'GTD PRO' decal on various places around the body.
Just to be clear, that caution description is what they call a regular caution. If a caution happens shortly after another, or in the last few laps of the race, the race director will call for a “short caution.” Where, as the name implies, it’s designed to be quick, no wave arounds, etc. That said, there is one thing I’ve never gotten my brain around, how do they class drivers (bronze, silver, etc)?
For the short FCY there is still an initial wave around. There is just no additional wave around for cars that are 1+ laps down. All drivers are classified by the FIA. They do have a pretty vague description of what qualifies a driver to each license class but it's not the most consistent process in the world.
You won't be disappointed! There's usually a few Nascar drivers who take part in the support series Michelin Pilot Challenge Race during the Rolex 24 weekend!
I’m not sure if you’re referencing the announcement of the merger (which may have been in 2012, I’m not sure) but I think for newcomers it’s important to clarify that Grand Am and the AMLS actually merged in 2014, not 2012.
Yes, I am referencing the 2012 announcement that Mr Panoz would sell the ALMS and there would be a merger with Grand AM. I agree that there are more details that I glossed over however I did want to give a good general overview of the series and in the interest of time I had to be very selective with the storyline. I do think that a more proper history of IMSA series could be in order at some point in the future. Thank you very much for bringing this up! I appretiate you bringing this to the attention of me (and anyone else reading this comment)!
I have a question/assumption. Sometimes they don't race all classes for certain GPs correct? I'm currently watching the Long Beach GP (4/15/23) and I'm only seeing 3 classes in this race. GTP, GTD Pro and GTD. By the way your video explains a lot. I always try to watch these IMSA races but I was always confused with all the different classes of cars on the track at the same time and your video truly helps understand these races.
Glad to hear this helped you understand things a bit more! Yes you are correct that all classes do not compete in every race! This can be for a variety of reasons ranging from travel expenses (you'll notice that the LMP3's aren't part of this West Coast back to back) to track capacity. We won't see all 5 classes out on track together until the 6 Hours of the Glen in June!
Sorry for the delay, RU-vid flagged the comment for some reason! The Sprint cup is a portion of the calendar that consists of only the 2hr 40min races. The Endurance Cup consists of the 4 longer races (5 races next year). All of the endurance cup races are 6 hours or longer. The Porsche Carrera Cup is a seperate series completely and often races as a support series at many races that IMSA attends. It's a single make series where all of the cars are same!
I've follow LeMans / WEC / ALMS / IMSA on an off for 20+ years. They seem to not get that changing class nomenclature jumble and confusion doesn't help newer viewers to the sport. Much like Japan GT, where it consistent, simple, and easy to explain and remember - GT300 and GT500 - the series used to have the same pattern; LMP1 > LMP2 > GT1 > GT2 > GT3. Now it's GTP (which look close enough to LMP2/3 cars so why not call them LMP1) > LMP2 > LMP3 > GTD Pro > GTD
It's a marketing thing for naming it GTP. GTP is what the class was called back when the Group C cars raced and is often referred to as the Golden Era for sportscar racing! I agree that it definitely is confusing!
good info! but I was hoping for an explanation about the classes. about the comment below about yellow flag procedures, is it the same for Le Mans race, classes lining up and all that? seems like it would take forever to pass around and line up there.
Hi Tim! I have done a series on each of the classes in IMSA in seperate videos! They can be found in this playlist ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PQQkIT1Cijo.html As for Le Mans it is a very different procedure there, they actually have three safety cars out on track which throws a whole other wrench into things! This safety car prcedure is pretty unique to IMSA but I do believe there is another sportscar championship adopting something similar this year!
So all the classes race at the same time on the same track but they race four separate races GTP only races GTP, LMP2 only race LMP2, GTD Pro only race GTD Pro and GTD only race GTD. Or do GTD Pro and GTD race together and are the only ones to race together?
Correct that they share the track but are all sort of running their own race! The only difference between GTD PRO and GTD is the drivers! GTD PRO is generally all pro drivers where in GTD they require a non pro driver to race in the car. Generally this is a gentleman driver but it can also be a younger up and coming driver as well!
Great video thanks. Is there any VOD service you can subscribe to (In the UK preferably) to watch the races without the numerous adverts you normally get in the TV broadcasts?
You should be able to watch all of the races ad free (and for free) on IMSA.tv! you can also watch the races back on the IMSA RU-vid channel a handful of days after the race!
Hey Ron! It was all too much to cover in one video so I did a video for each class! All of your questions should be answered in this playlist! ru-vid.com/group/PLxLSfZBCK3Y2xiExbcJvYp4YfNkJAxq-I
I can imagine if you're not familiar with imsa at all the caution period And the restarts maybe extremely confusing. I've been watching the series since I was a kid and it still confuses me a bit
I will have a video coming out in the next day or so telling you how you can watch it! You can also browse through the race replay on the IMSA Official channel!
IMSA did go there from 2014-2017 but it was taken off the calendar. Many people will have different ideas as to why but it's gone because people didn't show up. With low attendance it made it hard to justify returning. Some IMSA support series have run there as well including the Porsche Carrera Cup North America the past couple of years.
The GTD and GTD PRO cars have the same performance! The only difference are the driver ratings that are allowed to race in each. This mix of GTD and GTD PRO times is normal as often times the GTD drivers can put together a strong lap and vise versa the PRO drivers may make a mistake and not have the best lap!
@@offintheesses right but if the gtd pro are the higher ranked drivers why where they times slower than the gtd glass? Sure there aren't any more bop added to the pro cars to slow them down
@@samzilla1050 Important to remember that qualifying for this race hardly means anything. Teams know that it's a long race and rarely push to their potential. Mercedes seem to be one of the manufacturers who instructed their drivers to push hard and they all appear at the top of the charts. Their one pro driver didn't get a good clean lap in and therefore is starting behind the "AM" class. Also the "AM" classes still have pro drivers in their roster as it is a PRO/AM class. The top 6 cars in GTD all used at least a Gold Rated driver for their qualifying run so it mainly was a bunch of pros duking it out!
Yes Indy is taking the spot of Mid Ohio. Unfortunately many people have reported that the facilities at Mid Ohio aren’t up to the standards that many expect (many things aging and falling apart) Hopefully they will be able to resolve these soon and IMSA will return!
Oh wow! Other than being one of the teams on the grid they are a group of dealerships in Toronto Canada! If you are interested in a shirt though check out Toronto Motorsports, that’s where I got mine!
Yeah a little bit! Hopefully we'll get a couple that make the trip over next season. I think the most likely one to come over is the Ferrari but maybe Toyota or Peugeot (under a different badge)
Too many prototype classes. LMP3 is pointless. Just need one expensive class for manufacturers, one less expensive for privateers, etc. I’m still not completely sold on the new GT class. They need to have a significant horsepower bump to better match their road going siblings. The closing speed between GT and prototype has been too great for too long. Is the “sharks fin”(dorsal billboard) really a required safety device? It is so ugly it is almost unsafe to look at. I miss the old group C.
